(No subject)

[Guest guest]

I can understand the confusion of the doctors and the drug company

involved in this case. After all, this sort of illegal experimentation

takes place every day - so why were these 3 docs singled out? Must be

because the media got hold of it. Time to start paying off the Russian

media just like the media in the US and Australia is paid off.

BMJ 2007;334:817 (21 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.39185.497824.DB

News

Three Russian doctors face trial for vaccine tests

Osborn

Moscow

Three Russian doctors face a criminal trial after being accused of

endangering children's health in the course of trials of vaccines for

the drug company GlaxoKline. If convicted they could be sentenced

to up to six years in prison.

Prosecutors in the southern Russian city of Volgograd allege that the

doctors tested GlaxoKline vaccines on young babies who were not

fully healthy and that parents' consent was not sought. The three

doctors and GlaxoKline deny any wrongdoing and say that the trials

were done lawfully and entirely in accordance with relevant ethical

obligations.

In fact it seems that the doctors are the victims of a political storm

created by the Russian media, in which the vaccine trials have been

depicted as experiments on unsuspecting citizens by predatory foreign

firms.

The trials were done in 2005 at the Independent Clinical Hospital in

Volgograd on GlaxoKline's behalf and included 112 babies aged 1-2

years.

They concerned the company's branded vaccine for chickenpox (Varilrix)

and its combined vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella (Priorix) and

were part of a series of trials involving almost 6000 adults and

children in 10 European countries including Russia.

The three doctors at the centre of the controversy have categorically

denied any wrongdoing. They are Olga Alikova, a former assistant to the

chief physician at the Volgograd hospital; Tatyana Slizova, head of the

hospital's paediatric unit; and Svetlana eyeva, a paediatrician.

Dr eyeva has insisted that " all the rules were followed. " She has

complained of psychological suffering after being bombarded with

telephone calls from angry parents.

GlaxoKline itself has also issued a strong denial that any laws

were broken or that its vaccines are in any way unsafe.

In a statement on the website of its Russian division, the company says

that the vaccines had been registered in Russia and that the trials were

sanctioned by the authorities, including the relevant state committees

on ethics and research.

The company has done its own internal audit, it added, and found no

problems.

" The company . . . is extremely worried by these unfounded and untrue

statements, " it said.

" These clinical trials took place in 10 countries around the world. In

the other nine there were no such unfounded accusations. "

The three doctors are in the process of hiring lawyers as they prepare

to stand trial.

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